On Tuesday, US district judge Beryl Howell effectively allowed the transfer of the headquarters building of the United States Institute of Peace to the General Services Administration.
In fact, the building—and all of the property inside it—had already been transferred on Saturday, according to Howell’s ruling. “The deal is no longer merely ‘proposed’ but done,” Howell wrote, “rendering plaintiffs’ requested relief moot as to that property.”
The building, with an estimated value of $500 million, has become the latest focal point in a weeks-long standoff between former institute board and staff and members of Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency. On March 14, the Trump administration fired the USIP’s 10 voting board members. When USIP staffers barred DOGE employees from entering their headquarters in Washington, DC, the DOGE team returned a…
